How To Use A Heart Rate Monitor

There are two simple, compelling reasons to use a heart-rate monitor: to train and race at the best pace for you. The table below shows you how to find your perfect paces for: (1) the three most important workouts in any training program; and (2) the four most popular road-race distances.

Workout Percent of Maximum Heart Rate (MHR)

Easy run and long run 65-75%

Tempo run 87-92%

Interval repeats 95-100%

Race Distance

5-K 95-97%

10-K 92-94%

Half-marathon 85-88%

Marathon 80-85%
Fern Oliner had been a runner for more than 25 years when she experienced a breakthrough in her performance. It happened at age 59, during a challenging half-marathon.

"For the very first time, I felt like a true runner," she recalls. "There I was on the uphill, passing people and feeling totally in control. I absolutely loved it."

Her secret? Oliner was wearing a heart-rate monitor.

"I was breathing heavily as I was going up the hills, but the monitor told me I was okay. So I sped up," she says. "If it weren't for the monitor, I would've kept running at the slower pace, as I'd always done."

Oliner's experience is a classic example of how runners can benefit from this relatively simple technology. Once considered the gadget du jour for hard-core professional athletes, heart-rate monitors have gone mainstream, their tell-tale chest straps peeking out from T-shirts on everyone from fitness runners to veteran marathoners.

All these people are wearing monitors for the same reason: Your heart rate provides an objective gauge of exertion, one that's usually more exact than your own perception of how hard you're working.

"While it's important to be aware of your effort so you're in touch with your body's subtle cues, this isn't always a very accurate feedback system," says George Parrott, Ph.D, who coaches a Sacramento, Calif., running club. "Whereas the monitor is such a precise index of effort."

The bottom line: No matter what type of runner you are--beginner, intermediate, or advanced--a heart-rate monitor will help you train more effectively. We'll show you how.
For years, everyone (including us) has been telling you that the best way to find your maximum heart rate (MHR) is to subtract your age from 220. Sorry about that.

Turns out that's not the most reliable method, at least not for healthy, fit individuals like the readers of Runner's World. For most of you, two newer formulas will prove far more accurate:

(A) MHR = 208 - (.7 x your age)

(B) MHR = 205 - (.5 x your age)

A small group of Runner's World staffers recently tested these two formulas, and reached the following conclusions. Both seem to work almost equally well for runners under 40. For runners over 40, formula (B) appears to be more accurate. We now believe that (B) is the single best formula for predicting maximum heart rate, and we're adopting it as our Runner's World standard.

Then there's option C: Of course, no predictive formula can ever be as accurate as an honest-to-goodness, all-out field test. You can conduct such a test on a track or a moderately steep hill, which may work better if you're not an experienced track runner. And by the way, since all the workouts in this article depend on an accurate MHR, it's worth the effort to take this test. You'll need to wear a heart-rate monitor for it.

Here are the three essential steps:

1. Be sure you're well rested, well hydrated, and well warmed up.

2. Run hard and fast for 2 to 3 minutes. Jog back to your starting point. Repeat two more times, running a little harder and faster each time. On the third and last repeat, pretend you're running an Olympic race.

3. Check your heart rate during and immediately after the last repeat. The highest number you see is your maximum heart rate (MHR).
Newcomers to running are some of the biggest fans of heart-rate monitors, for two main reasons. Tracking heart rate ensures you're working hard enough to reap fitness benefits. On the flip side, setting a maximum heart rate on the monitor can keep overzealous novices from overdoing it.

Beginners should choose a target heart-rate zone--generally between 65 and 75 percent of maximum heart rate (MHR)--and stay within it for most of their workouts. Runners who haven't yet developed a sense of their speed and effort can learn from their monitor. "I love being able to keep a consistent pace without having to look at my watch all the time," says Kerrie Hardman, 37, who started running 2 years ago. "Nothing has helped my training more than monitoring my heart rate."

Suggested workout: This one comes from running coach Roy Benson, a longtime advocate of heart-rate training. To do it, first you'll need to determine your MHR (see "Finding Your Max" below). Now, take 75 percent of your MHR, which will be your upper limit. Then calculate 65 percent of your MHR, which will be your lower limit. Plan to run 20 minutes total (head out for 10 minutes, then turn around). Start running until you hit your upper limit heart rate, then walk until it's back down to your lower limit. Run again up to 75 percent, then walk until you hit 65 percent. Continue this way for the entire 20 minutes. "As you progress through the weeks, you'll spend more time running than walking, because you'll take longer to hit your upper limit," says Benson. Extend the length of your workout as your fitness progresses.

Fun twist to try: To keep your motivation high, use the monitor to track your fitness, suggests Ed Burke, Ph.D., professor of exercise science at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs. Choose a running speed that's realistic for you, and run a timed mile. "Repeat that mile at the same pace a month later, and your heart rate should be lower," he says. Run the same timed mile 2 months later, 3 months later, and so on. Each time, record your heart-rate figures in your training log so you can track your progress.
If you've run for a year or more and have a solid mileage base, you'll find the monitor a great help as you start doing more challenging workouts. One of the best ways to use a monitor is to preset a target heart rate for a tempo workout. (See "Training and Racing" box on next page.) This will keep you from going too fast (a typical mistake with tempo running). Another great way to use it is on long runs, which should be run neither too fast nor too slow for optimum results (aim for 65 to 75 percent of MHR, depending on your fitness).

Intermediate and advanced runners are renowned for running too hard on their recovery days, and a monitor can remedy this. "I actually found it harder to stay below 75 percent of my MHR on my easy days than I did staying at 95 percent of my MHR on hard days," says Laverne Sheppard, 41, who attributes a 30-minute improvement in her marathon PR to her monitor.

Suggested workout: This ladder workout progresses through a range of heart-rate zones. After 10 minutes of jogging, run 4 minutes at 70 to 80 percent of your MHR, 3 minutes at 80 to 90 percent, 2 minutes at 90 to 95 percent, and finally 1 minute above 95 percent. Finish with 10 minutes of easy jogging. For a less challenging workout, decrease the amount of time spent in each zone by a minute. For a more challenging workout, do the ladder two or even three times.

Fun twist to try: Even runners who swear by heart-rate monitors in training will tend to leave them at home during races. But Benson says they're the perfect tool for learning to race at the proper pace. "The monitor will show you if you're starting out too fast or too slow," he says. "Within a half-mile or so you should be in your desired zone, and a heart-rate monitor will enable you to keep it there." (See "Training and Racing with a Heart-Rate Monitor" at right for optimal heart rates for various race distances.)
For more information on heart-rate monitors and heart-rate training programs, check out these useful resources:

Best place to shop: These days, you can buy any type of heart-rate monitor from a basic (and accurate) $49 model to one that will practically sing you to sleep. We like the wide selection at Creative Health Products, www.chponline.com or (800) 742-4478.

Best Web pages: Check out the SportsMed Web site of Mark A. Jenkins, M.D., an Ironman triathlete. "The Heart" pages include a beginner's guide to heart-rate monitors and also graphs of athletes' actual heart rates during triathlons and road races of different distances. Go to www.rice.edu/~jenky/heart.html
Even the best runners can benefit from heart-rate feedback. South African training expert Bobby McGee, who coaches some of the fastest runners in the world, relies on heart-rate monitors to train his athletes.

When distance star Colleen De Reuck moved to mountainous Boulder, Colo., McGee suggested she start wearing a monitor. "She knew how to run easy and how to run hard, but nothing in between," he says. "Being at altitude, I knew she'd need something other than pace-per-mile to determine workout efforts." De Reuck, who now wears a monitor for easy and intermediate workouts, was a quick convert. "I stopped burning myself out," she says.

Many advanced runners also use the monitor to track recovery during interval workouts. Instead of waiting a predetermined number of minutes or jogging a certain distance between repeats, you can check for your heart rate to drop before beginning the next repeat. Your recovery target should be be less than 80 percent of your MHR.

Suggested workout: Jog for 10 minutes, then run three repeats of 1.5 miles at tempo pace (about 90 percent of MHR). Rest 3 minutes between each repeat. Note the time you run each repeat in your log. "You'll see your times decrease as your season progresses," McGee says. "You're not working any harder, but at the same heart rate you're running much faster." By the way, tempo workouts are an excellent way to prepare for all race distances, from the 5-K to the marathon.

Fun twist to try: A rise in resting heart rate (best taken in the morning right after you wake up) often indicates that you're over-training, and a monitor can help make this diagnosis. For this you'll need a monitor that stores information for later recall. "My elite runners sleep with their monitors on," McGee says. "The resulting graph is a helpful indicator. It tells me if they're overtraining." According to McGee, an erratic heart rate with lots of variation throughout the night is typical when an athlete is training hard. When tapering and resting for a race, the heart rate should be steadier and more consistent. If yours is still erratic leading up to a big race, consider a longer taper, or cut your mileage and intensity during your taper.

Or try this: Test your fitness from time to time with this game on the track. Warm up well, then pick up the pace until your heart rate hits 90 percent of MHR. Then jog very slowly until you recover to 70 percent of MHR. See how many times you can go from 70 percent to 90 percent and back again in 10 minutes of running. You can increase the challenge by raising the upper limit to 95 percent of MHR.

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